The former Irish rugby international questioned Leo Varadkar on the governments’ housing policy during his appearance on Ireland AM on Wednesday morning.
Bowe hosts the show alongside Muireann O’Connell and while much of its content is of the light-hearted variety, it’s not the first time the Monaghan man has been praised for asking the difficult questions of figures of authority.
“We’re seeing pictures of students camping out on the side of the road beside universities in Dublin and Galway,” the 38-year-old said to Varadkar.
“It actually makes me think of Philly McMahon who was on with us yesterday, his brother died homeless, he said 10,000 people are homeless or are in emergency accommodation at the minute.
“3,700 of them are children. It’s frightening,” added Bowe, who made 69 appearances for his country.
“When I think of my own kids, the pressures we have, and they have a roof over their head. With your government, there’s 3,700 people without a home, and there’s more people going to fall into this, because they can’t afford a rent.”
Varadkar responded to Bowe by saying that, in the last 12 months, 25,000 houses were built in Ireland. He also stated that homelessness is ‘a lot more complicated than just building houses or money.’
“Well we don’t know if that’s going to be the case. I hope we’ll see homelessness falling again, over the course of the year, it was falling for quite sometime. I think everyone understands that homelessness is a lot more complicated than just building houses or money. There’s lots of factors at play.”
“The solution is more supply. In the last 12 months, 25,000 houses were built in Ireland, that’s more than in any year in ten years. But we’re catching up on a period when very few homes were built.”
"With your government, there are 3,700 children without a home and there is more people going to fall into this because they can't afford rent"
Tommy confronts @LeoVaradkar on #Budget2023 supports pic.twitter.com/Qs8UoD9P8q
— Ireland AM (@IrelandAMVMTV) September 28, 2022
Previously, Bowe confronted Micheal McGrath, the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform of Ireland, on both the housing and healthcare systems in the country.
'You're trying to tell me you're in touch with it and then you signed off on a top civil servant getting an €81,000 pay rise'@TommyBowe questions Minister for Public Expenditure @mmcgrathtd pic.twitter.com/LDHNTuwyFx
— Ireland AM (@IrelandAMVMTV) February 10, 2022
